It is that time of year for many of us to set  our New Year Resolutions.  The Dear God Letter Team prefers to call these resolutions GOALS.  A goal can be something as small as drinking more water in 2012 or as large as increasing my revenue to 1 million dollars.  You may be wondering where to begin?  The Dear God Letter Workbook is a great way to get started in achieving these goals.  I would recommend writing “overall happiness” for your next letter.  What are some things in 2012 that will make you happier? We would love to hear what they are?

A few years ago, a friend invited our family to ring the Salvation Army bell in front of our local grocery store on Christmas Eve.  Of course we agreed to do it, and it proved to be the beginning a new family tradition.  My daughters each bring a friend and we sing carols and generally enjoy spending an hour enjoying the season.  I am so thankful that our friend invited us to participate and even more thankful that we all enjoy the time together.  We all look forward to “ringing the bell” and wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

What Christmas traditions do you look forward to every year?  Merry Christmas!

I was thinking about habits and how usually we consider them “bad,” but I saw the following quote by Jim Ryun: “Motivation is what gets you started.  Habit is what keeps you going” and decided that habits can be a good thing.  If we let things like exercise, expressing appreciation, eating right, and other beneficial activities become habits, we have created an easy way to improve ourselves.  And when these good things become habits, and we don’t have to think about them anymore, we might find time to work on creating more beneficial habits.  Imagine if all our habits were good for us and everyone around us!

Have you ever noticed how the simple act of smiling can make you feel better?  I have often realized that when I’m in my worst funks, I usually feel a little bit better if I get around other people.  I feel compelled to smile and be polite and end up being a little less grumpy.  Sometimes it’s better if you’re around people who aren’t your friends, because you might feel at liberty to complain to someone you know.  Go ahead – give it a try!  Share a smile with someone today!  And remember, you might be cheering them up at the same time!

Success comes in cans, not cant’s. ~Author Unknown

Whenever you catch yourself saying, “I can’t (fill in the blank)…” stop and think about it.  Is it something you are simply choosing not to do because you are unwilling to do whatever is necessary? If so, that’s ok, but accept the responsibility of making the choice.  If it’s something that you really would like to do, but currently don’t have the necessary resources, try re-phrasing it by saying something like, “I currently struggle with…” and then get out there and do whatever it takes to make it an “I can…” statement. Writing a Dear God Letter is a great place to start!

Consider this passage from Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill:

“There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage or belief.”

Wishing for more money or a happy relationship is easy – are you ready? Really ready for what you want?

A recent question to the Dear God Letter team read, “What if you don’t have dreams to get you going?”

I thought about this awhile and wondered if the person who wrote this question might just be very content with their life? And is that ok? Perhaps they want things to change, but lack the motivation? I don’t know the answer, but for me, I decided that not all dreams need to be huge. We probably all have dreams of some kind or another – we don’t all want the same things. Maybe your Dear God Letter could simply be a “thank you” letter. If you don’t have a lot to ask God for right now, just taking the time for gratitude certainly has value.

And if you think you need dreams, write a letter for that – just remember to be open to the answers!
Happy Dreaming!

School is back is session, it’s time to hit the books! Reading is one of the most important skills we learn in school and continue to use through life. However, as an adult it is our choice to continue reading as a daily habit. Did you know that if you read 30-minutes a day, in about 100 days you would have completed the same amount of reading as a college course. We could all have multiple degrees by now!

Most of us read for enjoyment and are always looking for a new book to read or belong to a book club. Now, think about how many words a minute you read and what you remember. It is a known fact that most of us read the first 140 characters and then don’t read the rest unless it interests us. We are highlighting a program called Photo Reading this month. This program will teach you how to read faster and retain more of what you have read. How much more could you read in the same amount of time? We have found that we are now able to build our library of books more rapidly, learn more and have fun with this new way of reading.

We invite you to include reading as a daily habit. Enjoy!!

I have a page-per-day calendar page on my bulletin board with a quote from Phyllis Theroux. It reads: “Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.” I kept this one to remind myself that when I make a mistake, I need to learn from it and stop beating myself up about it. One thing I like most about where I work is that it is a positive place to be and I like that. Even when one of us makes a mistake! So, take the responsibility and learn from your mistakes — you’re one step closer to wisdom!

A visionboard is a useful tool that will help you achieve success after you write your Dear God Letter. Essentially, it can be as small or as large as you want, but it should be somewhere that you’ll see it every day. Simply cut out or draw pictures that represent what you’re asking for in your letter and glue or tape them on a board or piece of paper. Hang it up so it’s the first thing you see when you get up in the morning or somewhere that you’ll see it often throughout the day. There are even electronic versions that work as a screensaver on your computer. Remember to keep it positive so that you are always attracting what you want!